When your child is born, you carefully strap her into her state-of-the-art car seat. You slap “Baby On Board” warning signs in the window. You slow down, keep two hands on the wheel, and suddenly marvel at the dangerous stupidity of other drivers.
Then the kiddo grows up, rolls her eyes, and holds out her hand for the keys.
A state Department of Licensing program hopes to bring some of the same Mama Bear and Papa Bear mode of the new parent to parenting the teen driver.
“It’s absolutely wonderful that parents of young children and infants are vigilant about car safety. Unfortunately, as time goes on, teens and their parents become more relaxed about car safety, sometimes violating the Intermediate Driver’s Licensing law,” said Dr. Ben Danielson of Seattle Children’s Hospital in a statement. “The results can be devastating.”
Car crashes are a leading cause of death among teens in Washington. Between 2009 and 2013, 179 teens ages 15-19 died in car crashes. Of these teen deaths, 102 were drivers.
Many traffic-related deaths of teens under 18 are linked to violations of the Intermediate Driver’s Licensing law. The law has special provisions to keep teens safe, including restrictions on nighttime driving, limits on passengers, and “zero tolerance” policies which forbid all cellphone and alcohol use.
Parents are a key factor in making sure all parts of that law are followed, studies show.
“Some parents may not understand the risks for new drivers, or may be unclear what their role is as their child becomes old enough to drive or to ride with other young drivers,” said Pat Kohler, director of the Department of Licensing, in a statement.
In May, the Department of Licensing partnered with the Safe Roads Alliance and State Farm Insurance to launch a new Parent’s Supervised Driving Program, which provides parents and guardians with an easy-to-follow plan designed to help teens develop safe driving habits.
The program is supplemented by the RoadReady mobile app, which helps families track the required supervised driving time of 50 hours.
The free program guide is available at driver licensing offices around the state. It is also available through wadrivetozero.com. The RoadReady mobile app is available through www.roadreadyapp.com.
The parent guide contains driving practice tips, like scheduling out the required 50 hours of driving time, and planning to spend a lot of that time on learning parking skills and left turns. It advises parents to leave conversations about that bad grade or friend issue in the driveway.
Beyond the practical, the guide also offers other ideas aimed at keeping teen drivers safe — such as signing a family contract about wearing seat belts and keeping the cellphone off, setting a 10 p.m. curfew unless special permission is given, and tying things like good grades to use of the car.
The biggest tip? It’s not surprising: Parents should drive like they want their teen to drive.
And maybe upgrade from “Baby on Board” to a “Student Driver” sign for that car window. (Or as I saw on one other option: “Caution: Student Driver… and Screaming Parent.”)
Raising safer teen drivers
Parental involvement is key to safer teen driving. Some statistics culled by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Teen Driver Source:
— Teens who say their parents set rules and pay attention to their activities in a helpful, supportive way are:
– half as likely to crash
– 71 percent less likely to drive intoxicated
– 30 percent less likely to use a cellphone while driving
– twice as likely to wear seat belts
— A teen with easy access to the keys is more than twice as likely to crash as one who shares a car, as well as more likely to use a cellphone while driving or speed.
— The key is balancing support and control (“I care, and I’ll give you the freedoms you earn; but for safety-related issues, you’ll do as I say”).
Source: www.teendriversource.org
Have a question? Email us at streetsmarts@heraldnet.com. Please include your name and city of residence. Look for updates on our Street Smarts blog.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
